


Lessons Learned (Loki x reader)

by revengingbarnes



Category: Loki: Agent of Asgard, Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Asgard (Marvel), F/M, Magic, Teacher-Student Relationship, Witchcraft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-09
Updated: 2020-07-09
Packaged: 2021-03-04 20:35:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,767
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25162498
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/revengingbarnes/pseuds/revengingbarnes
Summary: In order to learn magic, Thor invites you to stay in Asgard for a while, offering his brother Loki to be your teacher.
Relationships: Tom Hiddleston/Loki/Original Female Character(s), Tom Hiddleston/Loki/Reader
Kudos: 46





	Lessons Learned (Loki x reader)

**Author's Note:**

> Warnings: mentions of anxiety and PTSD

Your first thought when you landed in Asgard was that you could never live in a place like that. 

It wasn’t a matter of whether you wanted to or not. You definitely did. But something told you that you didn’t belong in Asgard. The place was everything you had seen in fantasy movies and imagined when you read fictional books. Even though you were there now, Asgard’s golden castle was shining almost blindingly in the sunlight, just a little ways away from you, and you still couldn’t digest the fact that it was real. It seemed almost too good to be true. And someone like you couldn’t live in a place as grand as this. You were barely visible on Earth. You would drown in Asgard. 

“Are you coming?” Tony called, making you snap out of your trance. He had walked several paces away from you, looking back at where you still stood in the Bifrost. You nodded jerkily and flitted over to him. You couldn’t help your jittery manner. You had arrived in Asgard with Tony, and Thor was waiting at the entrance of the Bifrost in order to welcome you, but despite having two familiar faces there, you were still nervous. There were other Asgardians with Thor. Some soldiers and a few other people in fancy clothing who you didn’t know. They were all looking at you and Tony, and it was almost disconcerting. You saw a woman who you guessed was Lady Sif. Thor had described her to you enough times for you to correctly recognize her. You admired Sif greatly, mostly because she was everything you aspired to be. Strong, determined, unbreakable, and with a wonderful sense of wit. You would feel like you had accomplished everything if you could become even half the woman she was. 

There was a carriage waiting for you outside the Bifrost, and you nearly melted on the spot. A _carriage_. This entire place couldn’t be more Cinderella-esque. Tony seemed unfazed, which you attributed to the fact that he had been there before. He glanced at you and snorted. 

“Trust me, kid. It gets old really fast.”

_I doubt it._ You didn’t say it out loud. You didn’t think Tony could understand how much you loved everything you were seeing. As a kid, you had loved fairy tales, castles, horses and magic. Most young girls loved the concept of princesses and a happily ever after. With time, as they grow up and the world gets crueler, they realize that life couldn’t possibly be that great. But the fantasy had stuck around for you, if only for the wonderings of your mind. A place as perfect as Asgard had existed only in your head until a few months ago. But now here you were, _living in it._

Tony was mostly silent during the ride. The only sound was the steady clop of horses’ hooves on the ground. The carriage was only occupied by the two of you, and you used the opportunity to press yourself to a window and try to absorb as much of the sights as you could. It was only when the carriage started to slow that he spoke up. 

“You really love it here, don’t you?” He looked at you with amusement, though his eyes weren’t visible behind the black shades he had on. You nodded hesitantly, making him shake his head. 

“It’s okay. That’s great. What did I tell you about owning what you want?" 

You nodded again and gave him a smile. He seemed happy enough at that, knowing how hard it was for you to even get to this point. Tony had been a sort of mentor to you for a while now, ever since he found you locked up in a pitch black room in an abandoned HYDRA base. You had remained alive solely due to your powers. Yes, you were another one of HYDRA’s experiments. Though similar in many ways to Wanda Maximoff, your magic was more deeply rooted, and not just limited to telekinesis. Of course, no one found that out until months later, because by the time that Tony had found you, you were basically a shell.

It was hard to think about your time with HYDRA, even after so many months. You had been stripped of all you were, broken into a million pieces and stitched back together until you couldn’t be sure that you were even real. For years, you had retreated into a niche in your mind, trying to cope with the mental and physical torture HYDRA’s obsessive scientists put you through. And for the past few months, Tony had gently been trying to pull you out of the depths of your own brain and back into the world.

You weren’t quite there yet, but you had made immense progress.

When the carriage stopped, you and Tony both stepped down to the ground. You practically tried to disappear into Tony’s back when you saw the sight before you.

A whole crowd of people stood at the gates of Asgard’s prestigious Royal castle, eyes trained to where you and Tony stood. You felt your face burn hot under so many eyes, struggling to not go blank and disappear in your mind; your instinctual coping mechanism. Thor walked over to you, grinning so wide you wondered how his face hadn’t split in half.

“Welcome to Asgard.” His voice boomed even though you were in the open, followed by claps from the spectators. You screwed your eyes shut, stepping so close to Tony that your side pressed to his back. He stepped aside though, giving you an encouraging nod.

“I know it’s a lot.” He whispered apologetically. “I didn’t ask him to do this.”

“It’s okay.” Your voice sounded strangled. You knew Thor meant well. He had been really excited when he found out that Tony was bringing you to Asgard. Besides Tony, you were probably closest to the God of Thunder. Despite being so powerful and a literal King, he had a gentle nature that you were immediately drawn to. While on Earth with the Avengers, he would describe to you the various realms he had traveled to, and you loved visualizing the images he constructed. It filled you with hope that the world was so big, so much of it still unexplored. To know that there was more to life than just Earth brought you a sense of focus you hadn’t had before.

Thor was pulling you into a hug before you knew it, making your eyes widen. When he pulled away, you gave him a small smile. Behind him, you saw that he had a whole entourage of his own. Your eye caught the man standing over his shoulder some distance away, making your body still. 

So this was Loki. 

You had seen him on the news. You knew all too well about his little visit to Earth all those years ago, when he had been on the brink of destroying the planet. You didn’t know why but despite the media’s exaggeration or the image of him you had constructed in your head, Loki simultaneously looked both exactly like you had pictured (intimidating, unapproachable) and nothing like that (….devastatingly handsome?). 

He was taller than you thought, so pale under the sunlight that he looked almost luminous. His hair was the exact opposite, black as a raven and shiny, brushing his neck. He was in tight clothes that accentuated his figure. He wasn’t massively built like Thor. He was lean, fittingly so. His mouth was set in a straight line, and his eyes, a startling shade of grey, were looking into the distance as if deep in thought.

When his eye caught yours, you couldn’t look away.

He did, however, move on after passing you a cursory glance. You didn’t blame him. Everything that Asgard was, with its looming buildings, shiny walls, people so beautiful they looked almost fictional, you were the opposite. You weren’t grand, You weren’t magnificent. You were wearing a hoodie and jeans, for Christ’s sake. You had not yet seen a single woman that was not done up in gorgeous, flowing dresses or brilliant, sturdy armor.

About half the people who had greeted you at the gate moved inside with you to the castle. To your left, Thor and Tony were talking as they walked, leaving you to yourself as your eyes took in the sights hungrily. This was going to be your new home for a few months. The thought both scared and excited you. As terrified as you were at the prospect of living with so many strangers at a place you had no clue about, you couldn’t wait to actually, finally learn magic.

It had been Thor’s idea in the first place. He had vocalized it one Sunday night when the Avengers were celebrating another successful mission. He said your magic was eerily similar to Loki’s, though of course much, much more amateur. He offered to have you in Asgard so Loki could teach you. The prospect was a tempting one, considering that no one had absolutely any idea what to do with you. Even Dr Strange was left scratching his head. By then, you had more or less accepted that you could do nothing more than small, petty tricks and that was as far as your magic went. Thor had laughed and assured you that you were sorely mistaken, claiming he had seen Loki do things no one could ever fathom were possible.

Hence here you were. Ready to learn from the God of Mischief himself.

The feast Thor had arranged for you and Tony was massive, and you wondered what logical sense it made to cook so much food that it could feed an entire army. You ate a little bit of everything, wanting to taste a fraction of what Asgard had to offer. To your dismay, Loki had disappeared somewhere just before the feast began. Or maybe he was still there, seated on the very large, very crowded table. You didn’t know how but you had a feeling he didn’t like to make his presence known. 

As time passed, everyone on the table got progressively louder and drunker. You hated getting drunk like this, because with the unstable state of your magic, you hardly wanted to be even less uninhibited. At one point, you felt the entire atmosphere get a little too stifling for your taste, and you got up to announce that you needed air. You realized that everyone was too enamoured by some story Thor was recounting, so you left without saying another word.

It was a big relief walking into the large hallway. You let yourself breathe deep, feeling your chest shake and making you realize you were still stiff with nerves. You shook your hands out, closing your eyes and trying to get a hold of yourself.

“Tony will worry about you when he finds you missing from his side.”

You yelped and whipped around, wide eyes meeting light grey ones. Loki raised an eyebrow from where he stood, leaning against a large pillar in the centre of the hall.

“Sorry.” You breathed, feeling the back of your neck turn hot. You avoided looking at him, turning your eyes to your favorite spot to gaze at; your feet.

“Despite Thor having explained it to me, I do now see why you’re here.” He pushed himself off the pillar, walking slowly to where you stood. “Your aura, it’s noticeable. Yet poorly controlled.”

You looked up at him at that. “S-sorry?” It seemed like the only word you knew. You wondered if he thought you were stupid. Likely possibility was that he did. You thought of his words again. Had he just insulted you?

He shook his head. “I didn’t mean to. My apologies. I have little control over my tongue.”

You blinked. “You- you can read minds?”

The smallest twitch of his lips, but you caught it. Something about the emotion relaxed you in his presence a bit. Made him seem more human…. which made no sense at all except in your head.

“As can you, actually.” He walked to your side, choosing to lean against the wall you were currently taking support from. “With a little bit of practice.”

The prospect of being able to read minds both excited and unnerved you, but you were curious to find out more.

“Don’t tell anyone.” Loki added, the slightest twinkle in his eye. “It ruins the whole point of reading minds if people aren’t freely thinking in your presence.”

You couldn’t help but smile. “No one else knows?”

He shook his head, dislodging a lone strand of dark hair to hang over his forehead. “Only you.”

You wanted to crush the fluttering in your gut at his words. Wanted to breathe. Ten seconds later you concluded that neither were going to happen. You were stuck here staring into Loki’s grey, grey eyes.

“Welcome to Asgard.” He gave you a tiny smirk.

………………………..

“You know, I’m a little surprised.” You spoke up, hearing the rustle of pages behind you as Loki hummed for you to continue. “I really hadn’t thought you’d like the idea of teaching me. I thought you didn’t like humans?”

You turned back to see Loki shake his head but not look up from the book he had his eyes trained on. “An outdated concept. Of course, I’m still not particularly fond of Midgardians, but I’m not trying to burn the planet to the ground anymore. That counts for something, yes?”

You grinned but didn’t look back, yet still effectively losing your place in your book. Loki was extremely cheeky, which fit his personality to a T, and gave him a lot more substance. His wit and charm were unmatched, and admittedly, you could feel yourself falling prey to said wit and charm. After all, you were only so strong.

“Also,” he continued, his voice closer to you than before. “I haven’t had the chance to be a teacher yet, only a student. Let’s just say I was curious about the experience.”

You had been in Asgard for about two weeks now. Tony had left the very next day after your arrival, leaving you with your hosts. You had been right, Asgard was a hard place to live in for someone who nitpicked every aspect of themselves. And being surrounded by people who exuded so much grandeur was nerve wracking on a daily basis. But it wasn’t for nothing.

Loki was a shockingly great teacher. He never got frustrated with you, even when it took you days to learn even the most basic of spells. Whenever you started to question yourself, he would somehow be there, not directly complimenting you (you were certain Loki wasn’t one to give out compliments), but demonstrating his faith in your powers many times. You knew for sure that if he didn’t, you would have crumbled under the kind of peer pressure Asgard was subjecting you to. But his silent belief in you carried you on. 

Currently you were in the library, since Loki believed that books were the best place to start learning magic when you weren’t sure of your own control. Asgard’s library was the largest library you had ever been in. There were hundreds- no, _thousands_ of books on shelves that went so high they made you dizzy. Since no other Royal was much of a reader, the library was almost entirely under Loki’s control. And he had turned the place into a safe haven of its own. You swore you could live in it for days if you had the chance.

“Here,” he placed in front of you the book he was holding. “This is what I was talking about. Deception is an art. And this art is supported almost entirely by magic.”

Your lessons had turned into a sort of safe haven for you. It was a judgement free zone. No one was there to gawk at the Midgardian, and none of the Noblemen wanted to ask you curious questions like how it felt to know that you would die someday. The questions didn’t exactly leave you in the best of moods, and you craved just being alone with Loki and letting your magic reign free.

Naturally, you couldn’t help but want to be around Loki even outside of lessons. For some reason, you had associated safety and comfort with him, which was particularly insane considering that he had once committed mass genocide against your kind. You couldn’t, for the life of you, figure out where that Loki was. The one you had encountered gave off no dangerous vibe. Yes, he was incredibly skilled. You would never want to be on the opposite side of his wrath. But out-of-control maniac wasn’t exactly the best description of him.

It was almost too obvious when your heart started beating a little harder in his presence. When your lungs would stutter if he stood too close to you. When your knees would get a little weak if your eyes met his. Almost too predictable. Or pathetic. Both words were fine.

Pathetic because he was _Loki_. He was a literal god, and living among literal gods and goddesses. He was so exquisite, and intimidating and _grand_ , and you were but a mere student. And only a human. Well, enhanced human but that didn’t really make a difference. You couldn’t even fathom coming close to the kind of women he saw on a daily basis. You were bland compared to them. So yes, these feelings were in fact pathetic.

You stayed in Asgard for six months. Of course, magic required a lifetime of training and meditation, but you couldn’t stay there forever. Despite Thor never complaining, you knew you had overstayed. It was time to go home. So of course, Thor being Thor, threw you a massive farewell party that you didn’t want at all. You appreciated the gesture, and a surprisingly large amount of people attended. You highly doubted they were there for you rather than the amazing selection of food and drinks. 

You watched Thor entertain his guests from afar, already having blended into the background even in your own party. You were dressed to the nines, courtesy of Thor and the many dresses he had sent to the room. Most of them showed an appalling amount of skin, which you also noticed that nobody minded in Asgard, probably because they were all beautiful and no one hated themselves quite like you did. You had chosen the one you felt most comfortable in, a black one with a lovely, flowing skirt and a lace top that was dusted with gold. You had actually used magic to alter the dress to your exact proportions, which you were very proud of. You had never used magic for something other than death and destruction and now here you were, dressing yourself with it.

“Oh, my.” You whipped around at the voice, spotting Loki behind you. He was dressed in an all black suit as well, looking positively divine. “Did we unintentionally match clothes?”

You grinned at him. “I think we did.”

He hummed and moved closer to you, his eyes warm and soft like they often were. “You look ravishing. May I say, you clean up very well.”

It took everything in you to not melt on the spot, and you thanked every force out there that Loki had taught you to conceal your thoughts from all other mindreaders, because his stare right now was inducing something positively filthy in your head.

“Th-thank you. As do you.”

You and Loki did what you always do at parties; leave and walk around the castle whilst talking between yourselves. For a reason unknown, Thor threw a lot of parties for a lot of things. It was hard to keep track, actually. It almost always ended up with you and Loki just ditching it anyway.

“You leave tomorrow morning?” He asked, making you nod. You were walking down a long, empty hallway. The distant chatter from the party was still echoing in the air.

“That reminds me, on the risk of sounding overly cheesy,” you stopped walking and faced him, which made him do the same. “I do want to thank you for everything you taught me. I know you hate all this gooey shit but- it is how I feel. And, I don’t know, I feel like you should know.” You could feel your face growing hot. “You know what? Never mind, this was stupid. I-”

“This is not stupid, Y/N.” He was grinning wide, and your name on his lips made your breath catch. “And you have taught me something too.”

You blinked. “Oh?”

“Yes. That all human beings are not entirely insufferable, I suppose.” There it was again. That cheek. That smirk.

“Ah, you _suppose_.” You could feel yourself getting comfortable in his presence again, as you so often did. “Six months with me, and you only suppose.”

“Well,” he stepped closer to you. Closer than necessary. Closer than was appropriate. You felt your breath halt completely as he looked down at you, inches from your face. “Not all humans are like you, are they?”

“Well, no. I guess. I am enhanced. There’s very few of us like that out there. Just a handful actually. It’s a little concerning though. It’s still more than what’s considered normal-”

He was kissing you then. Loki was kissing you.

His lips interlocked with yours, soft and slightly cold, but wonderful against your own. Your eyes went rolling up in your head when he tilted his head to deepen the kiss, his hands placing ever so gently on your sides to pull you closer, until you could feel your body against his. Your hands grabbed at his shoulders, trying to not fall because of your shaky knees. His tongue brushed almost teasingly over your lips, before he pulled away.

You made a weird noise between a gasp and a sigh, blinking your eyes open.

“What was that for?”

Loki was looking at you with more adoration than you’d ever seen in his eyes. You were still dazed.

“You were rambling, darling.”

_Darling_. “Well, I can think about ten other ways to stop a person from rambling, but you made a wise choice.”

He grinned then. That characteristic Loki grin that made you grin right back. “I’m glad you approve. Because I was thinking of doing it again.”

You leaned up slightly in anticipation. “I’ll be disappointed if you don’t.”

And that was all it took for his lips to meet yours again.


End file.
